


Different Sides, Same Story

by samanthanottfound



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samanthanottfound/pseuds/samanthanottfound
Summary: After a freak accident, it’s up to El’s friends to tell her what happened.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Robin Buckley/Original Female Character(s), Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

Hello beautiful people! I’m Samantha, you’re gracious host, and I’ll be introducing the story in this chapter. This will be a multi-ship story. The ships being Elmax, Byler, Tobin, Jancy, and Jopper. Each chapter will be someone’s side of a part of the story. For example, a chapter can be titled “Max’s Side, Part One” and that part of the story will be told by the other characters as well. All their truly doing is filling El in on what she doesn’t remember. After each character has described what their side of the part is, it’ll move on to the next part. That will be titled like “Max’s Side, Part Two”. Also, I’ll try to update as consistently as I can. Have a great day!


	2. Update

Hey so I was thinking about this book and realized it would get very boring if I kept the format I was originally gonna do so I’m changing it to where each character tells a different part of the story. It’s hard to explain but it’ll make more sense later. Also sorry for the long wait I promise I’ll get the first chapter out today thank you guys for being patient!


	3. “She’s Awake”

*Eleven’s P.O.V.*

I woke up in a bright, light, white hospital room. Machines hooked up to me were beeping and humming slightly. I felt tired and hungry, and my body ached. But at the same time, I felt numb. Both mentally and emotionally. I looked around my room for any familiar faces. I saw two: my dad and my best friend. Hopper was sitting on a chair to the left of me, while Max was sitting on the right. They hadn’t seemed to notice me, focused on what looks like a notebook and a reading book. I tried to speak but my throat was hoarse and it pained me to speak. Still, neither of them gave a thought. I tried to get their attention by trying to lift a lamp on a table on the opposite side of the room. I tried for what I’d say was about five minutes, but I gained no success. My nose did seem to bleed, so I figured my powers were still there, just weak. Max sighed as she closed her book and put it down. I knew she would do that at some point, she always talks about how boring books are. And considering she was reading Midsummer by Shakespeare and she doesn’t know how to read it, she would get tired of it quickly. I observed her appearance and looked for anything that would differentiate her from the Max I’m used to. She was wearing a arm cast on her left arm, she had crutches that I assumed was for her broken leg. She also had bandages on her face, arms, and legs. She had dark circles under her eyes, indicating she probably hasn’t been sleeping well. She was wearing a frown on her face, clearly distressed. I decided to try and speak again because I was going to be in pain anyways.

“Max...” I managed to mumble. Both Max and Hopper looked up at me with delight in their eyes.

“She’s awake.” Max stated, as if she didn’t believe it. “She’s awake!” I looked at the both of them, still a bit confused.

“Are feeling okay? Do you need a nurse?” Hopper asked in a hushed and calm voice. However, he was shaking a tad.

“I-I think,” I started but then was interrupted by my coughing.

“Max, can you get a nurse?” Hopper asked in a rushed tone. He was still attempting to appear calm and collected, but was also quite worried.

“Why can’t you? Go take a walk and calm down.” Max instructed. Hopper reluctantly nodded and slowly disappeared out of the room.

“W-what happened?” I asked.

“You don’t remember?” Max hesitantly asked.

“No...”

“Oh, jeez. I have a lot of explaining to do.

“Where are the others?”

“Well, Dustin is with Tammy, Steve, and Robin, Lucas and Erica are at their house, Johnathan is in Nancy’s hospital room, and Joyce and Mike are in Will’s hospital room. And, of course, I’m in here with you.”

“Why isn’t Mike in here? Why aren’t you with Lucas?”

“I think Mike would rather be with his boyfriend and I would rather be with my girlfriend.”

“Gi-girlfriend?”

“Yeah... we got together when all this happened. But I get it if you don’t want to be together anymore-“

“No, I do. It’s just kinda surprising. But if my past self loved, who’s to says my present self can’t.”

“That’s really sweet, El. I love you so much.”

“Thanks, and I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this chapter is so short, I promise I’ll get into the actual story tomorrow and have a longer chapter.


	4. The Start

*Max P.O.V.*

“So, what happened?” El asked softly. She was still pale, just like right before the final fight. Before I answered her question, I grabbed her a tissue. Her nose was bleeding, which was a relief. At least she still has her powers. She grabbed the tissue and nodded as a way of say thanks. She threw it away in a trash can next to her bed and looked at me, indicating for me to tell her the story.

“Well, when do your memories stop?” I asked her with a hint of worry in my tone.

“I went to sleep on, I think, Saturday night. Then I work up here.”

“Well, that’s about where it starts. Here, one of the police officers took everyone’s stories. I’ll read this and start with mine.”

*3rd Person P.O.V.*

Sunday, December 20th, 1986. Approximately 2:00. Most everyone was asleep, except for El and Max. The Party was having a sleepover at Mike’s house. The girls were in the living room, playing Twister.

“You suck at this game, El.” Max laughed. She loved hanging out with her, sometimes more than she liked hanging out with her own boyfriend.

“I’m not flexible, okay?” El said, trying not to laugh. Max tried to reach for the spinner, but doing so she fell on top of Eleven.

“Do you have to be right there?” She giggled.

“Get off me, you’re crushing me you cow.” El smirked, proud of her comeback.

“That is so incredibly rude!” Max said, a little too loud. El put her hand over the redhead’s mouth and shushed her. Instead of being quiet she licked her hand, causing her to move it away from her mouth and shake the spit off. “That’s what you get, cow.” El pushed Max off of herself and wiped the rest of the spit on Max’s arm.

“Aww, come on.” Max said in defeat. El stood up and held a hand out for Max, which she gladly took. She tried to pull El down, but failed. The brown haired girl laughed as she helped the other girl. Soon, footsteps could be heard on the stairs, coming down to most likely scold the young teens.

“Can you guys be any louder?” Dustin asked.

“Is that a challenge?” Max asked, a smile forming.

“No, it’s me telling you guys to shut up. What are you doing that makes you so loud anyways?”

“Twister, duh.” El said, moving to the side so he could see the layout.

“Out of all the games, why did you choose Twister? It blows.”

“No, you just have bad taste.” Max said. She sighed because she had barley gotten any sleep that night, but it was worth it to hang out with El. There was indistinct shouting coming from upstairs. Dustin was about to say something before there was a loud thump. El jumped a little in fear, and Max noticed. She could usually tell when it was actually a time to worry and a time to not. This probably should be but Max also wanted to lighten the mood.

“I wonder what spooky monster made that thump in the night.” Max said, waving her fingers like a ghost.

“Shut up.” El said with a giggle. She bit her own cheek to get herself to stop. Then there were more steps on the stairs. El and Max stopped their fun and their expression turned more serious. The girls looked at each other before seeing Will storm out of the house, with Mike close behind. Lucas stood next to Dustin, who was glaring at him. Everyone was silent until both the boys left the house. El looked at Max, who looked at Dustin, who looked at Lucas, who looked at the door.

“Lucas...” Max started and gave him the death stare, “What did you do?”

“Why do assume I did something?”

“You always do. Also you look very guilty at the moment.”

“Can I talk to you privately?” Dustin asked Lucas.

“Yeah, sure.” He knew if he stayed here he was going to be yelled at by Max, and if went with Dustin he would get yelled at by him. He figured that Dustin wouldn’t try to kill him but Max would. The boys walked into the basement together and closed the door.

“I swear on my life I am going to kill those boys.” Max scowled.

“Easy there, tiger” El told her.

“I thought I was a cow?”

“Well now you’re a tiger. Don’t be mad, it’s an upgrade.” The girls exchanged smile. Max looked at El, and then her lips. They were a shade of bright pink and looked so soft she could just kiss them. Her thoughts were then interrupted by Mike storming through the door. It looked like there were tears in his eyes but he wouldn’t let them come out. “Babe are you okay?” El asked, walking over to him. Max had to resist rolling her eyes, as she hated when El would call Mike that and vise versa. She never really liked them together in the first place.

“I’m fine.” Mike said, quickly rushing upstairs. El looked at him with worry in her eyes.

“Uhm, we should probably go back to sleep.” Max told her, inching by her.

“Yeah, I’m kinda tired.” She said glumly. They went upstairs to their sleeping bags and tried to be as quiet as possible. El knew Max didn’t like her and Mike together, but she wasn’t going to break up with him just for a friendship. She’s known Mike much longer than Max anyways. Soon enough everyone was trying to sleep but at the same time no one could.

“Anyone want to play Twister?” Dustin asked the group.

“No.” Lucas quickly shot down his idea.

“Stop being a dick, Lucas.” Max told him.

“Shut up, Max.”

“Uh-oh, looks like they’re gonna break up again.” Mike mumbled.

“Mike...” El whisper-yelled.

“Am I wrong? They always get in fights, make up, and get back together. Then they do it again.”

“Hey, isn’t that the same thing you guys do?” Max asked in a fake cheery voice.

“Guys just shut up.” Dustin said.

“You know what, I’m leaving.” Max announced, grabbing her things.

“Max, wait-“ Before El could finish Max was already downstairs. El shuffled down to try to convince her to stay.

“Go back to your stupid boyfriend, El.”

“Max, come on, you can’t leave. We can play another game if you want.”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Max said in a raised voice. El didn’t say anything more. She shut her mouth and looked at the ground. Max stormed out the door, not caring that she just broke her best friends heart. She got on her bike and headed home. El went upstairs to the boys and sat down quietly.

“You know none of this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t such an asshole.” Lucas told Mike. Before anyone could say anything else Mike tackled Lucas and started punching him. El and Dustin started yelling and screaming but the two boys kept fighting. Eventually, the lights turned off and they got away from each other. Mike chuckled in disbelief. El looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe it.” Mike said.

“Believe what?” El questioned.

“That Max is that petty.”

“What do you mean?”

“She clearly turned the power to my house off. That’s why she went outside.”

“She went outside because she was leaving, Mike.”

“Did you see her leave?”

“You know, maybe I really should break up with you. For real this time.” The lights all of the sudden turned back on, some flashing a bit. One was specifically flashing an S.O.S., but no one seemed to notice nor care.

“Maybe you should.”

“Well, good. We’re done.” El finished the conversation and walked out.

“Dude... you’re so stupid.” Lucas told him.

Meanwhile, with Max, she was riding home, trying not to cry. She was so mad, everyone always has to ruin everything. Especially Mike. It was really dark out so it was hard to see. While she was riding her bike a familiar car pulled up next to her. Someone got out of the car and Max tried to see who it was.

“Max? What the hell are you doing?” It was Steve.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Johnathan called me and said to come to his house.”

“I’m going home because Mike sucks.”

“Want a ride?”

“Eh, why not.”

*Max P.O.V.*

“Is that it? Just an argument?” Eleven asked me.

“That’s just the beginning, trust me.”


End file.
